Currently, dental x-rays are typically developed at the dental office by either a hand or an automated system. In the hand developing systems of the prior art, the x-ray film is placed upon a fixture and sequentially manually dipped into a developer solution reservoir, wash solution reservoir, fixative solution reservoir, wash solution reservoir, and is subsequently air dried. In the prior art automated developing systems, the x-ray film travels via a complicated conveyor system, which is typically formed of a plurality of rollers, through sequential developer, fixative, wash, and drying basins.
Although these prior art systems have proven generally suitable for developing dental x-ray film, such systems possess certain inherent deficiencies which detract from their overall utility. In this respect, the hand developing systems require skilled operators while the automated systems are extremely costly and further require continuous maintenance due to their complicated roller conveyor systems. Further, the automated systems of the prior art oftentimes scratch the x-ray film as it is conveyed sequentially from the developer, fixative, and wash basins thereby damaging and/or destroying the same. Further, problems exist whereby the x-ray films may become inadvertently mixed so that the order, orientation, or identity of the patient will be incorrect, leading to a reat many potentially serious errors in diagnosis.
The present invention is specifically designed to eliminate the above deficiencies of the prior art. In this regard, the present invention comprises an automated x-ray developer system wherein the x-ray film is maintained stationary and developer, fixative, and wash solutions are sequentially presented to the x-ray film. This facilitates high quality development, and correct identity, order, and orientation of the film from mouth to mount.